Various prior art cigarette lighters incorporating safety features are known. Safety features are generally provided to reduce the risk of injury to an operator or bystanders. Safety features for cigarette lighters can be divided into several general categories. Some safety mechanisms prevent ignition of a fuel source unless the lighter is properly oriented. Other mechanisms have been designed to automatically turn off a fuel supply valve. More recently, attention has been directed toward preventing ignition of the lighters by children and other persons normally not able to appreciate the danger of fire. Individuals usually considered in these efforts are young children, age five years and younger.
Child tamper-resistant mechanisms have focused on preventing depression of the thumb pad or thumb actuator found in most lighters by incorporating a locking mechanism that physically blocks the downward movement of the thumb pad unless a safety latch or other button is first engaged to unlock the lighter. There has also been development of guards that cover the spark wheel.
However, none of the prior inventions have incorporated safety guards as part of the support arms holding the spark wheel assembly. The guards prevent a child from effectively turning the spark wheel assembly. The guards incorporated into the support arms of the present invention, called slip guards, are larger in radius and smoother than the prior art spark wheels. The slip guards act as a mechanical barrier preventing a child's thumb access to the strike wheels. The slip guards frustrate young children attempting to operate the ignition mechanism of the lighter.